Fluid operated motor



July 14, 1936. D. E. REED 2,047,382

FLUID OPERATED MOTOR Filed Jan. 4, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 7; VQW

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FLUID OPERATED MOTOR Filed Janl 4, 1934 p 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 2 22 W6 I 8;-9 24 t 2v TOR ATTORNEY Patented July 14, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE FLUID OPERATED MOTOR 7 Application January 4, 1934, Serial No.705,229

4 Claims.

One of the principal objects of my invention is .to provide a verysimple and effective motor operated by a fluid, that is to say, eitherby the suction of the intake manifold of an automobile or by the exhaustof the engine, so that a fluid moving in one direction will effect theoperation of the motor so that the latter reciprocates to cause theoperation of any device actuated thereby.

This is provided with a piston which is acted upon by the operatingfluid whether suction or air under pressure, and this piston is providedwith and carries a valve which is automatically operated in accordancewith the stroke of the piston to release the fluid from one side of thepiston, so that the piston, after moving in one direction under theinfluence of the fluid means, will return under the action of a springwhich is compressed during the movement of the piston in one directionby the fluid.

As far as I know, this is the first instance where a piston has beenprovided With a valve for releasing the pressure from one side of thepiston to cause the return stroke of the piston so that a reciprocatingmotion is produced in the piston by a current of fluid movingcontinually in one direction.

Other features of my invention will be set forth in the followingdetailed description of one embodiment thereof.

In the drawings forming part of this application,

Figure l is a perspective view showing the steering post of anautomobile with the parts of my invention attached thereto,

Figure 2 is a rear elevation of the switch device which is arranged nearthe steering wheel to control the operation of the signal,

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 2,

Figure l is a sectional view taken on the line 4d of Figure 2,

Figure 5 is a vertical sectional view through the motor,

Figure 6 is a sectional view thereof taken on the line 65 of Figure 5,

Figure 7 is a sectional View taken on the line 'l-'i of Figure 5 andcomprising substantially an inverted plan view of the motor,

Figure 8 is a sectional view taken on the line 8-8 of Figure 6,

Figure 9 is a sectional view taken on the line 9-9 of Figure 5.

I have shown the motor forming my inven tion used to open and closeelectric circuits which may include an automobile signaling device orany other device, but it will be understood that the motor may be usedfor various purposes.

As shown in the drawings the motor is enclosed in the casing or shell 4,the upper end of (Cl. 1Z1123) which in Figure 5 is provided with achamber 5 in which the piston 6 reciprocates. This piston is shown asprovided with a cup-like head 1 which is attached to a piston rod 8 andbetween this head and the washer 9 there is provided a leather or otherpliable washer it! which is turned over at the edge to engage the wallof the cylinder 4. The piston together with the piston rod 8 is adaptedto reciprocate under the action of the operating fluid in the mannerhereinafter described.

The chamber 5 in the cylinder above the piston is connected with asuitable fluid source which will exert a driving action on the piston,and in the preferred form of the invention there is a tube il connectedwith the upper end of the cylinder 4 which tube is connected in a mannerto be hereinafter described, preferably with the intake manifold E2 ofthe motor of the vehicle so that a vacuum in this intake manifold willexert a suction action in the chamber of the cylinder to effect theupward movement of the piston.

There is a lower shell member l3 having its upper end immovablyconnected with the lower end of the cylinder 4 below the lowermostposition of the piston; and this shell has a dividing wall [4 at itsupper end which is preferably made of insulating material. There is atubular member l5 fixed to and depending from this horizontal wall,which tubular member encloses and protects the spiral spring l 6 whichsurrounds the piston rod 8 and which exerts an upward pressure at oneend against the dividing wall [4 and at its lower end presses againstthe contact arm ll which is secured to the piston rod by means of theflange 20 secured on the piston rod and by a nut and washer l9 threadedon the lower end of the rod. The contact arm I I is preferably insulatedfrom the piston rod by an insulating sleeve l8 so that current may passthrough the contact arm but not through the piston rod.

The piston, as stated above, is provided with a valve for releasing thepressure on one side of the piston so that in the particular embodimentdescribed herein the vacuum or suction above the piston may be releasedto permit the return stroke of the piston after it has been drawnupwardly by the suction or partial vacuum.

In Figure 6 I have shown a member 2| mounted in the piston to provide avalve seat 22 on the lower side of this member, together with a centralbore 23; and above this bore there are converging apertures 24 whichcommunicate at one end with the space above the cylinder, that is, withthe chamber 5; and at their lower ends with the bore 23. There is aguiding spindle 26 extending through the central bore 23 where it isguided and on its lower end this spindle carries the valve 21 which hasa conical top end 60 adapted to seat against the valve seat 22 tocontrol the passage of fluid from one side to the other of the piston.

There is mounted on the piston rod 8 a yoke shaped lever 28 pivoted onthe pin 29 which passes through the arms of the yoke or lever andthrough the piston rod. The plate 30 on the ends of the arms of thelever 28 has an aperture through which projects a pin 3| fixed to thebottom of the valve 2'! so that the swinging of the yoke shaped leverwill cause the rise and fall of the valve. There is a collar 32 securedto the pin 3| below the lever, so that when the lever is rocked in onedirection it presses down on this collar thereby lowering the valve 21;and when it is swung in the opposite direction it presses upwardly onthe bottom of the valve body 21 to press the upper end of the valveagainst the seat 22. It will be noticed that when the lever arm 28 is inits upper position as shown in Figure 6, holding the valve 2'! closed,that the collar 32 is spaced from the lever arm 28 so that there is lostmotion between the lever arm 28 and the collar 32. This permits thesprings 4! to pass the center of the pin 33 and to exert a definitedownward pull on the lever arm 28 before the latter contacts with thecollar 32 to insure a quick snap opening of the valve 21. On the otherend of the yoke shaped lever 28 there is pivoted at 33 a lever arm 34and to the free end of this lever arm there is pivotally connected alink 35 the other end of the link being pivotally connected with a rod36 which slides vertically in the sleeve 31 which is fixed in anaperture of the dividing wall M. The rod 36 has a stop member 38 toengage either the top of the dividing wall M or the top end of thesleeve 3'! and below the partition it has another stop member 39 whichin one position of the rod 38 engages the bottom end of the sleeve 31 tolimit the motion of the rod.

The lever arm 34 has laterally extending projections 48 to which areconnected the ends of coiled springs 44. The opposite ends of thesesprings are connected with the plate 30 on the outer ends of the leverarms 28.

I have shown the casing of the motor as hav ing a third or lower section42 fitted within and secured to the intermediate section 53 andextending partway up the same. This third casing member is shown asprovided with a horizontal wall 43 which is preferably made ofinsulating material. There are shown two tubular members 44 extendingthrough apertures in this wall and projecting downwardly from the bottomof the wall to serve as guides for the vertically movable contact rods45, 45. These rods each have a head 41 on one end adapted to seatagainst the top end of the tube 44 to limit the downward movement of therod and they also have heads or enlargements 48 at their lower ends:adapted to engage against the bottom ends of the tubes 44 to limit theupward movement of the rods.

There is a spring 49 coiled around each rod and its tubular guide, theupper ends of the spring pressing against the pins 50 projecting fromthe tubular members 44 and the lower ends of the springs pressdownwardly against the tops of the heads 48 of the rods. The normaltendency of these springs is to press the rods downwardly into theposition shown in Figure 6. The contact arm I? carried by the lower endof the piston rod is adapted, when the piston rod moves upwardly, tomake contact with the heads 48 and to thereafter lift the rods 45, 48 sothat the plate spring I! is in contact with the rods 45, 46 after thepiston rod starts to move upwardly; and the spring arm I! remains incontact with these rods during a part of the upward movement of thepiston and during a part of the lowering 5 movement of the piston.

The spring arm I! is disengaged from the rods 45, 46 between the timethe rods are arrested in their downward movement by the engagement ofthe heads 41 with the tops of the tubular 10 members 44 and until thepiston starts a successive upward movement. From this it will beapparent that the spring arm I! is out of contact with the heads 4'!during a portion of the stroke of the piston and is in contact with both15 of the rods during part of the stroke. When the spring arm [1 is incontact with the rods 45, 46 it closes a circuit which includes theright or left stop signal as will be hereinafter pointed out, whereaswhen the spring arm ll disengages from 20 the rods 45, 45 the circuit isbroken and the right and left turn signals are extinguished. There is,therefore, a periodical making and breaking of the circuit between therods 45, 46.

The tube H connected with the upper part 25 of the piston cylinder isconnected with the intake manifold indirectly or through a controllingdevice which I will hereinafter describe. There will therefore be asuction action exerted from the intake manifold upon the air in theupper 30 portion of the cylinder 4 and this suction or partial vacuumcontinually tends to suck or lift up the piston in the cylinder againstthe action of the coiled spring l6 which is tending to hold the pistonin its lowermost position.

The suction action caused by the exhaust of the intake manifold willdraw upwardly the piston within the cylinder 4 when the valve body 21 isseated against the valve seat 22 as shown in Figure 6 because at thistime no fluid can pass the cylinder. During the condition shown inFigure 6 the coiled springs 4| are on the upper side of the axis of thelever 29 so that the springs tend to lift the lever arms 28 andtherefore press the valve 2'! against its seat.

The suction causes the piston to rise in the cylinder until theprojection 39 on the rod 36 strikes against the stationary sleeve 31mounted in the wall l4 and any upward movement of the piston after thiscontact occurs will cause, by 50 reason of the stoppage of the uppermovement of the rod 35, the link 35 to act on the lever arms 34 andswing the latter counter-clockwise on their pivot 33 so that these armssnap down to a position where the springs 4| lie below the piv- 53 otalpoint 29 of the lever arms 28.

As soon as this occurs these springs will exert a downward movement onthe arms 28 so that these arms swing downwardly and press against thecollar 32 and thereby lower the valve body so to disengage it from thevalve seat 22. As soon as this occurs, fluid may pass through the port23 and the ports 24. Assuming that the device is connected with theintake manifold of the engine and that there is a suction or partial C5vacuum above the piston, then when the valve 21 is opened as justdescribed, air will rush in past the valve and through the ports 23, 24and pass into the cylinder above the piston. When this occurs the pullof the suction or partial vacuum 70 on the piston will be released byreason of the air flowing through the piston into the suction chamber,to such an extent that the coiled spring l6 will immediately act on thepiston rod to lower the piston. When the piston moves downwardly, thevalve 21 will be in an open position until the projection 38 on the rod36 engages the top of the stationary sleeve 36.

A slight continuation of the downward movement of the piston and thepiston rod after the rod 36 has been arrested will cause the link 35 toswing the arms 34 upwardly or clockwise into the position shown inFigure 6, ready for another cycle of operation.

The latter action threw the springs 4! above the pivot of the lever arms28 so that these springs then seat the valve 2'! on the valve seat, asshown in Figure 6, whereupon the passage of air through the piston isstopped. When this occurs the piston is ready to make another upwardstroke.

As long as the motor remains in operation the cycles above describedwill be repeated. The exact period or speed of reciprocation of themotor may be regulated either by selection of the spiral spring I6 of acertain strength or by making the tube I I larger or smaller.

During the upward movement of the piston it has been explained that thecontact arm I! makes contact with the rods 45, 46 and remains in contactwith them until the lower portion of the stroke of the piston is takingplace. The reciprocating action of the piston, as described above,causes the arm I! to close and open a circuit.

The motor here described may be used for other purposes than flashing alight.

It may be noted that the binding posts t, 52 mounted on the bottomhorizontal wall 53 which latter is preferably of insulating material,are connected by wires 5la, 52a to the sleeves 44 in which the rods 45,46 reciprocate, whereby these rods are connected in the circuit.

The motor described above is attached, preferably, to the steering post,such as by a bracket 65 shown in Figure 1. The tube H connected with themotor, extends up the steering post to the switch device under thesteering wheel; and there is a second tube 61 returning from theswitching device and connected with the intake manifold [2. The switchdevice is shown attached to the upper portion of the steering post bythe clamp 68 which surrounds the post. There are two levers 58, 18pivoted at H '52 upon the base 73 of the switch and these extend beyondthe base 13 to be operated by the hand of the driver.

In the switch base there are two ports 82, 83 on the left hand of theblock in Figures 2 and 3 and to the port 83 there is connected a tube84. On the right side of the switch base there are two similar ports 85,85 and there is a tube 8'! connected with the port 85; and this tubepreferably merges or combines with the tube 84 to form a Y and thesingle tube 6'! connected with this Y is the tube which is connectedwith the intake manifold as stated above.

There is a lateral port 88 in the base of the switch which connects thetwo ports 82, 86. The tube 1 I connected with this lateral port is thetube which is connected with the upper part of the cylinder of themotor, as shown in Figure 1.

The switch arm 69 has a port 89 which, when the switch arm is throwndown, will form a connection between the ports 85 and 86 so that throughthe several ports the tube 6! connected with the intake manifold will bein communication with the tube ll connected with the motor, so that thesuction of the intake manifold will operate the motor while the righthand signal is in operation.

In similar manner, the switch arm 10 is pro vided with a port 96 which,when the lever is moved downwardly, forms communication between the port82 and the port 83. When this occurs, the tube 61 connected with theintake manifold is also connected with the tube II so that the motor isactuated by the suction of the intake manifold. It will be apparent,therefore, that whichever switch lever 69 or IE! is moved downwardly itwill cause the tubes 61 and II to be in communication, or in otherwords, as far as the fluid device is concerned, the motor is set intooperation, whichever switch lever is moved downwardly intocircuit-closing position. When both levers are up, the port 82 is out ofcommunication with the port 86 and the port 82 is out of communicationwith the port 83 so that at such times there is no communication betweenthe tubes 6? and II, and therefore the motor is idle.

I have shown plates 9! secured to the switch base by the several screws92 and these plates are adapted to press the respective switch levers69, 36 into close contact with the face of the switch base in order thatthere shall be no leakage between the switch arms and the base.

Operation Assuming that the device is installed in the manner shown inthe drawings, the operation of the device. will be as follows: If thedriver of the vehicle is about to make a right hand turn, he or she willthrow the switch lever 69 downwardly and this will perform twooperations. That is to say, it will press one end of the bowed spring'58 downwardly into contact with the binding post '15 and this willconnect the two Wires M, T16 and therefore close the circuit whichincludes the right hand signaling lamp as far as the switch isconcerned. Movement of the switch arm 69 downwardly causes the port 89to connect the ports 85 and 36 and this places the tubes 61, i i intocommunication, so that the suction of the intake manifold acts throughthe tubes and the interconnecting ports in the switch base and thesuction created in the upper portion of the cylinder 4 of the motorcauses the piston to be drawn upwardly against the resistance of thereturn spring I6.

When the piston moves upwardly to a point where the stop pin 38 on therod 36 engages against the bottom of the sleeve 37 and the piston movesslightly beyond this point, the link will draw over the lever arms 34until the springs 4| have passed the pivot 29 of the lever arms 28. Whenthis occurs the springs will eXert a downward pressure on the lever arms28 and this will cause the valve 21 to move downward and unseat.

As soon as this occurs air will rush through the port 23 and the ports24 into the space above the piston, and this will destroy the partialvacuum above the piston and terminate the upward pull on the piston. Assoon as: this action takes place the spring it which has been compressedduring the upward stroke of the piston will cause the piston and its rodto move downwardly while the valve 21 is still open. When the piston hasnearly reached its lower position, the pin 38 on the rod 36 will engagethe top of the sleeve 37 thus arresting the downward motion of the rod36 and a slight further movement of the piston will cause the link 35 torock the arms as upwardly or back to their previous position. This willthrow the springs 4| on the opposite side of the pivot 23, whereuponthese springs will swing the arms 28 upwardly and cause the valve Zl' tobe seated against the seat 22. As soon as this occurs, the flow of airinto the space above the piston will be shut off, the piston will againbe subjected to the suction action of the intake manifold, and the abovecycle of operations will be repeated.

At each upward stroke of the piston rod the contact spring i 7 will makecontact with the two rods d5, 46 and will remain in contact with theserods during part of the upward and the downward stroke of the piston,but when the piston is in the lower position the spring arm l'i willdisengage from the two rods, 35, 66. As the rods are connected to thebinding posts 5i, it will be apparent that the circuit which includesthe right hand signal light will be intermittently opened and closed.

If the left switch arm is thrown down its connecting port 953 registerswith the ports 32, 83 and this also serves to place the tubes 5?, itinto communication with each other through the ports in the switch. Thiswill set the motor into operation the same as when the right hand switchwas operated, and the motor will perform the same functions as before.The left hand lamp will continue to flash until the lever arm it ismoved upwardly, whereupon the left lamp will be extinguished and themotor will cease to operate.

As stated above, the speed of operation of the motor is more or lessdetermined by the size of the tube ii and by the strength of the recoilspring it so that these two factors may be designed so that the motorwill have a fairly definite speed of operation.

The motor is very simple in construction and operation and it isactuated by the fluid moved by the motor of the vehicle. It is muchsimpler than an electrical motor and unlike the latter it causes nodrain on the battery of the vehicle because it is not electricallyoperated. Furthermore, an electric motor would require very great speedreduction, whereas the present motor may be designed to operate withoutgearing at the. desired speed. As pointed out above, the present motormay be employed to operate for other purposes than that describedherein.

I do not wish to be limited to a piston of the type shown herein as itwill be apparent that the piston may be in the form of a. diaphragmclamped around the edge with the piston rod connected with the center ofthe diaphragm. In the use or the term piston in the following claims, Ido so with the intention of covering any type of piston.

Having described my invention, what I claim is:

l. A reciprocating motor adapted to be opeatcd by a fluid moving in onedirection, including a cylinder, a piston adapted to be operated in onedirection by fluid in said cylinder, said piston having a port to permitthe passage of fluid through the piston, a valve movable with the pistonfor controlling the passage of fluid through said port, a piston rodassociated with the piston and a coiled spring acting on said piston rodto move the piston in the opposite direction to that affected by thefluid, a lever mounted on said piston rod for operating the valve, alever arm pivotally connected with one arm of said lever, a springconnected with said second mentioned arm and with an arm of said lever,and means for causing said second mentioned arm to be oscillated inrelation to said lever to cause said spring to alternately open andclose said valve.

2. A reciprocating motor adapted to be operated by a fluid moving in onedirection, including a cylinder, a piston and a piston rod adapted to beoperated in one direction by fluid in said cylinder, a spring acting onsaid piston rod for effecting the return stroke of the piston, saidpiston having a port to permit the passage of fluid past said piston, avalve for controlling said port, a lever mounted on said piston rod andadapted to operate said lever, and a lever arm mounted on one arm ofsaid lever, a spring connecting said lever arm with one arm of saidlever, a link connected with said lever arm, a rod connected with saidlink, a guide for said rod, and means on said rod to limit its movementin opposite directions, the reciprocation of said piston being adaptedto cause the said lever arm to oscilia'te to cause said spring to passto opposite sides of the pivot of said lever, whereby to effect theopening and closing of said valve in definite relation to thereciprocations of said piston.

3. A reciprocating motor adapted to be operated by a fluid moving in onedirection, including a cylinder, a piston adapted to be operated in onedirection by a fluid in said cylinder, a spring acting on said pistonfor effecting the return stroke thereof, said piston having a port topermit the passage or past the piston, a valve for controlling said portand movable with the piston, a lever movable with the piston and adaptedto open and close said valve, and means for operating said lever,including a lever arm and a spring connected with said lever arm andsaid first lever and adapted to be moved past the center of said firstlever to exert tension to move said first lever in opposite directionswhen said spring passes the axis thereof, means actuated by the movementof said piston for operating said second mentioned lever arm to causethe spring to pass the axis of said first lever arm, the parts being soarranged that said first lever will actuate said valve only after saidspring has passed the center of said lever.

4. A reciprocating motor adapted to be operated by a fluid moving in onedirection, including a cylinder, a piston adapted to be operated in onedirection by a fiuid in said cylinder, a spring acting on said pistonfor effecting the return stroke thereof, said piston having a port topermit the passage of fluid past the piston, a valve for controllingsaid port and movable With the piston, a lever movable with the pistonand adapted to open and close said valve, the parts being designed toprovide lost motion between said lever and said valve whereby the levermay have an initial movement before opening said valve, and means foroperating said lever, including a lever arm and a spring connected withsaid lever arm and said first lever and adapted to be moved past thecenter of said first lever to exert tension to move said first lever inopposite directions when said spring passes the axis thereof, meansactuated by the movement of said piston for operating said secondmentioned lever arm to cause the spring to pass the axis of said firstlever arm, the parts being so arranged that said first lever arm willactuate said valve only after said spring has passed the center of saidlever.

DANIEL E. REED.

